Thugs should be banned for life, says Sepp Blatter

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Sepp Blatter has called for lifetime bans and criminal prosecutions for footballers guilty of dangerous tackling. In a broadside against the kind of challenge that left Eduardo da Silva, the Arsenal forward, with a fractured left fibula and dislocated ankle 13 days ago, the president of Fifa argued for a new regime of zero tolerance before the meeting of the International Board - the body that determines the laws of the game - in Gleneagles this weekend and pledged to give more power to referees.

“Dangerous tackling is one of the most important issues in football at the moment,” Blatter told The